Welcome to the report from the Chairman of WPARR, Chet Sainsbury. Bringing you provincial news.

JUNIORS
One of our major objectives for 2001/2 was to focus on the development of junior athletes in the WP. Amongst our current senior ranks we do not have the depth so it was decided to develop future champions from our up and coming juniors.

Firstly
Four juniors were selected to attend a special development programme at the Sports Science Institute called "Maestros of the Future". In selecting these athletes they had to meet certain criteria. The programme entails medical assessment, proper nutrition, correct equipment, training methods, , strength training, etc.

Secondly
WP Road Running decided to sponsor all the junior prizes in the local WP XC League, This was well received and will be continued for the forthcoming XC season.

Thirdly
To encourage running in the townships we embarked on a plan to hold five 5 km fun runs in Guguletu, Bontehuewel, Langa, Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain. The juniors would run for free and each finisher would get a medal. Hopefully some of these juniors will join clubs in their area.

Transport remains a problem for township runners to get to the various race venues that are predominantly held in white areas. We do have a transport fund which assists runners to pay their transport costs with local taxis.

FIXTURES
During the past year we commenced a rewrite of our annual road fixtures. A number of established Clubs have up to six races on the local calendar with prime dates. At least a third of our Clubs do not have a race at all. Some of these clubs do not wish to organise races, We continue to encourage clubs to organize Sunday races and the Wednesday evening races are still very popular.

Sadly we have not been successful in liaising with our neighbours, Boland and SWD to ensure that A Grade races do not clash. For example, this coming weekend the Cape Town Marathon clashes with the popular Cango Caves Marathon. In particular, the CT Marathon has suffered because of the popularity of the weekend away to the Cango Marathon.

After sponsoring the CT Marathon for the last 8 years, Old Mutual decided not to renew their sponsorship because they had now secured the title sponsorship of the Two Oceans Marathon in Cape Town. The CT Marathon has not been successful in securing a title sponsor, however Old Mutual has continued to allow the use of their sports facilities at Mutualpark.

Two Oceans Marathon
The flagship race in WP, the Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon takes place for the 33rd time on Easter Saturday 30th March. 8000 runners are expected for 56 km and 5000 for the 21.1 km. The Marafun over 3 distances of 8 km, 5 km and 2.5 km takes place on Good Friday afternoon and last year attracted 3800 runners. This year a "nappy dash" has been introduced over 56 m in the finish straight at UCT.

Chapman's Peak has been closed for the last two years since a number of serious rock falls and the big fires in January 2000, so the Two Oceans has been re-routed over Ou Kaapseweg. We had hoped that Chapman's Peak would open for 2002 but that seems to be a lost cause. The two Companies bidding for the contract had their bids rejected by the Provincial Authorities as they did not provide sufficiently for the environmental impact that the repairs would have on Chapman's Peak. The revised bids have to be in by the end of February; there are bound to be more snags and the so-called red tape.

AGE GROUPS FOR WOMEN
Over a year ago ASA revised the age groupings for women in road running. Their reason was to align themselves with the IAAF.

The new age groups for women would be:
Veteran 35 to 44
Master 45 to 54
Grandmaster 55 to 64
Great Grandmaster 65+

Throughout SA women were very upset with this new age grouping which was forced onto them without any consultation. With effect from January 2001 the new age groups for women came into operation. The impact of this has seen the senior women's category being basically eliminated, with many of the prizes and top places being filled by veteran women. Appeals to overturn this ruling failed with no response from ASA. An application was put into the Gender Commission to review this ruling. Riel Hauman our top statistician could find no evidence from overseas events that women became veterans at age 35. Elana Meyer has just turned 35 so she is now classified as a veteran which means that all Sonja Laxton's great road records will be annihilated. To date Elana has not put up her V on her vest.

As I write this report, we have just received a circular from ASA that states they will no longer have any jurisdiction over veteran athletics in SA. This responsibility has been transferred to the SA Masters Athletics of whom our local man, Basil Carney, is their President. The good news is that this unpopular rule is being reviewed and is likely to be replaced with the old rule of veteran women age 40 applying. Why should women be any different to men? In fact women tend to live longer than men but the ASA rule made them veterans at age 35. It just did not make sense.

NEW CLUBS
Over the past year we have seen many new clubs being launched in WP. Some that come to mind are:

Liberty Nike Elsies River (new sponsor)
Adidas A.C.
Namakwa Sands (Vredenburg)
Langebaan Road Runners
New Balance Khayelitsha (new sponsor)
SANS A.C.

LEADING RUNNERS

SA MARATHON CHAMPIONSHIPS
Unfortunately the SA Marathon Championships scheduled for Durban on 24 March have been cancelled due to a lack of a sponsor. The date chosen by ASA was not a good one as it was one week before the popular Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon. Most top runners had a preference to run in Cape Town. ASA is still trying to secure a sponsorship for their annual 21.1 km and 10 km Championships, and these events will suffer the same fate if a sponsor is not found.

TRACK
WP will be hosting three big track meetings in the near future after being overlooked in 2001.
8 March ABSA Meeting at Bellville
19 April Engen Meeting at Green Point
26 April SA Juniors Meeting at Bellville

NEW RACE
The hallowed ground of Cape Point Nature Reserve was recently opened up to a road race. A Half Marathon was held within the reserve and it ended at Buffels Bay which has a lovely setting with a tidal pool. This new event attracted just over 1000 runners.

WALKING
Walking has become a big thing in the WP and there is a demand to accommodate walkers in our road races. Recently a 10 km walking race was held for the second time in Green Point attracted some 17 000 walkers.

Please contact Chris Goldschmidt for more information on WPARR. He is on the executive Committee of WPARR and has a regular email to interested people.
His email is: goldsc@chepsa.com